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JohnnyC's R53

32K views 241 replies 27 participants last post by  ssbnreso 
#1 ·
Bought my R53 nearly 3 years ago after owning this for almost 10 years, ultra reliable Toyota MR2


How the Mini looked after buying it


First modification, bonnet stripes


Rear shot


Anthracite & chrome line Interior


Mark on rear light


Bit of Turtle Wax Safe Cut and it was gone


Spotted overspray on licence plate lights before buying, I assumed this is the common rust issue on the hatch


New lenses


Changed spark plugs, old ones had a miss-matched plug


Sorted


Standard brakes were fine but not brilliant, so...







Brake fluid counter had never been reset in its life, despite fluid change 6 months before I bought it


Changed fluid and reset counter


Mini DVR-HD dashcam installed


Changed the fuel filter depsite it not being an item in the service schedule, I disagree with BMW that these never need changing


Same with the transmission oil


I plan on doing an engine oil change between regular services


New PIAA wiper blades. And for some reason passenger/drivers wipers were the wrong way around (see second photo)


Despite the car having reasonable service history, the micro filter had clearly never been changed for some time
 
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#2 ·
The suspension change from hell.
I've changed the suspension on a few cars now, all without any problem whatsoever.

It all started when I noticed the passenger side strut was slightly mushroomed. I'd heard of this before buying the car but never knew exactly what I was looking for until later.
So, first thing... ditch the god-awful runflat tyres that are probably a contributing factor.

£500 for some nice Continental Sport Contact 5's.

I like the ride & handling as is (just not the harshness of the runflats), but figured as I was approaching 80K miles and the mushroom then I'd best look at refreshing the dampers.
Decided upon Koni FSD and keeping the height the same.

Lot's of lovely new suspension bits, which turned out to be a little overkill as I found the spring cups & rubbers to be in much better condition than on previous suspension changes I've done


First issue, one of the front shock absorbers has a loose spring seat, so this had to be replaced!


Another issue is there isn't enough clearance to remove the front struts and get them out of the hub without removing balljoints (not with standard springs at least), and my spring compressors weren't much good on such short springs. So I ended up installing it all piece by piece inside the wheel arch

Yet another issue, there's almost nothing to stop the springs from rotating. Normally when torquing the strut piston nut, I do so with the car on the ground and the spring seat prevent the spring from rotating, however on the Mini fronts there's nothing much to stop the rubber from sliding around - bad design!
Of course it's my fault for not having a 'strut removal socket', but I'd like to know where you can buy these in the UK. Removed old nut with a 21mm 'spark plug socket', and the Koni uses a 22mm nut and no spark plug socket in that size so have to improvise with an 'oxygen sensor socket' and modify it.

Modified oxygen sensor socket


Drivers side done


Passenger side took only a few minutes until I was forced to stop, the dreaded pinch bolt


The pinch bolt is a VERY poor design.
Even when printing off diagrams from realoem.com to take to the Mini dealership so I could just say I want this this & this, I couldn't believe there wasn't a simple nut on the end of the bolt.
This then caused a chain reaction of further pain...

I decided a 2nd hand hub would be less painful than drilling it out.

So I started on the rears, effortless. Although I'm not impressed with the fact that only one end of the bolt holds the shock absorber to the trailing arm




Back to the front, whole damper & hub removed


As expected from a mushroomed strut, a mushroomed top mount. To think, Mini could probably have solved the mushroom problem by using stronger top mounts


Wasn't expecting a bent droplink though


Got some under tower plates to prevent mushrooms in future (and to help fix the problem)


And some tower defenders, which personally I don't think will do anywhere near as good as the under tower plates, but got them mainly to help with the fixing


Fixing the mushroomed strut tower




Before the fix


After the fix


Replacement hub arrives. Looks nothing like the one in the photo on fleabay. Complete with brake disc, thanks!!!! I know why they gave me a free brake disc, because they know what a pain removing the retaining screw is, thanks again Mini, poor design.
Also, wheel bearing on the replacement looks like it's from the Titanic. So I'll simply remove mine and put it on this one Will take a lot of leverage, so need a 13mm socket to fit my big ratchet, and Halfords only seem to sell 13mm bi-hex sockets and it promptly rounds the nut off the last bolt.
Right, I'll take the easy option and put on a new wheel bearing

Got this for £26


Nearly ready to go, at last I'm close to getting the car back on the road


Give the car a short drive, grinding/scraping noise from passenger front wheel. Immediate thought was the dust shield, then the ABS light came on along with the flat tyre and traction control
Could be abs sensor from the hub from the Titanic, or cheap-ass wheel bearing

And I think I find out why most wheel bearings are £50+
I think I must have knocked it against the drive shaft upon installation, but if I did then only slight. What is the magnetic ring made from? paper?


Really need the car back on the road, so I decide to by genuine parts from Mini as they can get hold of the parts the same day, so £160 for a genuine bearing, and £100 for a genuine sensor


After a short drive, the ABS/DSC/Tyre lights all go off and all is well.
Overall, the Koni FSDs are much better than the Super Sport+ shock absorbers.
 
#3 ·
Next modification was to fit the Aero front grille.

Bonnet part was straightforward, although the screws Rover/BMW used are not easy to fit at all.
Lower part had to be trimmed to fit the standard Cooper S bumper




Can't believe this 'premium' car doesn't even have an armrest!!
Pretty rare on fleabay, so I buy a new one, £200


Fitting


Fitted




 
#4 ·
Impending MOT, and already an advisory on previous MOTs (under previous owners).

BMW want £600 for a new exhaust, which of course will rust again.


So I buy a stainless steel Scorpion system


New droplinks (to replace the cheap fleabay ones I put on during the suspension install, one of which started knocking after 5 months) and new exhaust mounts


Mr Angle Grinder came out to play with one of the exhaust bolts


Removing the old exhaust from the rubber mounts had me stumped for a while. Very difficult to remove due to the knobbly bits on the oem hangers and very limited space lack of space to get your hands in.
My top tip here is to remove the metal strap around the backboxes, as the hangers are attached to the strap itself - gives much more space to get at them now


All removed


Scorpion fitted


Unfortunately the tailpipes were too close to the bottom of the bumper, so ended up putting washers underneath the rear inner mounts. Access to the rear outer hangers weren't possible without removing the exhaust, and I didn't want to remove them anyway as these commonly shear.
Fortunately just adjusting the inner mounts worked a treat



Video of the exhaust (a year or so later)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwDN-K_p4no
 
#6 ·
Fit a Blackvue dash cam (old camera now fitted to rear), this is much better in low light.
Wiring is tuck into roof lining, down A-pillar, behind glovebox, to the cigarette lighter.





Shortly after installing, some muppet thinks it'd be a good idea to make a left turn from the righthand lane they're in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnQefVLOQa4

Damage to two pieces of trim


Small dent on bonnet edge under the trim, luckily no paint damage


£46 for new trims, and I straighten out the dent very easily
 
#7 ·
The big one, Aero kit...
I decided to buy new as these are very rare 2nd hand, and most 2nd hand ones are pretty tatty.

Remove the passenger seat to make room


I still needed to make THREE trips to the dealership


Front bumper and side skirts


Rear bumper and all fixings


Painted by a bodyshop


I paint black behind the grille myself


Aero skirts compared to standard skirts, for some reason they have a lot less clips






Rear bumper


Standard vs Aero rear bumpers, this highlights the newly painted parts are a little lighter


Even though I've got washers under the exhaust hangers already, looks like I'll need even more now


EVEN MORE washers


All fitted


 
#8 ·
An original Dave F airbox fitting


Which I later clean


Before


After



I decide to change the coolant, I know it's not the original colour so I know it's been done, but I don't know when.

Decide to change the expansion tank too as these are prone to leaking eventually





Upone checking the coolant temperatures and the fans, I discover that the fan kicked in at 112C - which is the high speed fan.
So, YET ANOTHER common Mini issue, is the resistor in the fan unit is kapput.
BMW want around £280 for a new fan unit - which of course the resistor will blow again after a few years.
So I install a seperate resistor, wired into the fans wiring



Decide to clean the intercooler (inside)




Before


After
 
#11 ·
Another big job!

Decide to change the water pump for piece of mind, after seeing how big the job is and not knowing how long the superchargers last, and never ever wanting to take the car apart again like this - I decide to install a brand new supercharger.

May as well put a smaller pulley on it




Front end off


Supercharger removed




New supercharger fitted


New Airtec intercooler


 
#12 ·
Yes, another common issue to sort, water in the boot.

Bottom of battery compartment


Dried


Trim removed, no obvious water leaks.
Not sure if the wax oil stains are factory or a previous owner/garage (boot has been resprayed - probably warranty for the common boot lid rust)


New boot handle gasket




I've since sat in the boot with water being sprayed everywhere around the rear and no leaks anywhere.
But I'll keep an eye on it as I'm not 100% convinced the boot handle gasket was at fault, old one looked fine.


Christmas present for the Mini.
Just got tired of applying Autoglym bumper trim care to the 10 year old wheel arch trim, it's great stuff, but only lasts a few weeks before needs doing again.
So got new trim...







Dyno revealed engine running lean above 4200rpm, most likely fuel pump or fuel pressure regulator.

New fuel filter and fuel pump


Old pump


Fuel lines and level sender connection


New pump going in


Almost done. One thing I did different to the Pelican guide was to install the gasket around the top of the tank then slide the top of the pump into it, as I found it next to impossible for it to fit into the top of the tank with the gasket around the top of the pump.
 
#34 ·
Hi Johnny iv'e got the same problem you had water in the boot
iv'e narrowed it down to the boot handle gasket but i cant find one they arn't in the uk they all seem to be overseas in the us of a.

would you be able to tell me where you got yours::smile::
my car is an r50 2002 mini one>:D
 
#13 ·
Car broke down.
Well, didn't quite break down, it just refused to start!!
Tried with spare key in case is was the transponder, nope!

Towed home


Figured the problem most likely to be the ignition switch or the starter motor.
Replaced the battery too as it was reading slightly low and was 10 years old.

£66 for a new ignition switch (oh boy, the tinterwebz are full of these failing on Minis!!!)


Car started first time.
Shame about the shoddy BMW components.
 
#17 ·
At the cars last service I got them to dyno the car, put out around 175bhp at the wheels, so that's around 200bhp, but the dyno revealed a fueling problem, most likely the fuel pump or fuel pressure regulator.

New fuel pump (and filter, which I'll change soon, last changed just over 2 years ago).


Old pump removed


Had an issue with the fuel pump, the fuel level sender simply didn't work, re-installed my old pump and handed the new pump back to BMW to then be told...
"You can't have a replacement unless you refit it and we diagnose it", in hindsight I should have just called my credit card company for a refund as I believe they acted illegally making me jump through hoops.

Long story short: They tell me both fuel level senders (the other is on the fuel filter housing) don't work - this is bull****
They're about to charge my for their time because the 'pump works' until I remind them that the fuel level sender is part of the pump that I bought.
They then tell me they can't give me the replacement pump - WTF - unless they fit it themselves.

Oh, and they (BMW/MINI Sandal Wakefield, UK) take it upon themselves to wash my car - and they manage to f*** that up!! Leaving traffic film remover over the textured paint on my aero bumpers.
 
#19 ·
Was at Shakespeare County Raceway at the weekend, did a few runs.
I've done plenty of 1/4 mile runs before, but this is my first time in a FWD car.
My starts were appalling at first. Did a decent run but not recorded as I started too soon.







My best run was 15.46s

Was hoping for better considering my Mini is around 200bhp
The time is around what I used to get in my 168bhp MR2 which was a lot heavier and had less torque, but launches were easy due to it being mid-engined and RWD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56YgJXBbVb8
 
#21 ·
Had a minor knocking noise from the rear for a while.
Sounded like what you'd expect the parcel shelf to sound like banging about, but driving without a parcel shelf and the noise continued.
Narrowed it down by being a passenger in the rear, seemed to come from passenger side rear wheel arch.

Put new shock absorbers, spring cups etc 3 years ago, droplinks and rear ARB bushes 2 years ago.
One thing I didn't change were the bushes on top and below the rear top mounts. Due to not seeing them on realoem when I was gathering parts. Turns out this is due to them only being sold with the rear top mounts!!

So got some aftermarket KYB bushes, installed them today...

New bushes waiting to go in


New bushes installed


Around 5mm difference in thickness with the lower bushes. Don't know if this is just because it's an aftermarket part, or whether my old bushes really were flattened!!


Due to the size difference between old and new I definitely wasn't going to do just the noisey side


Anyway, I'm very pleased, knocking has gone :)
 
#28 ·
Thank you :)

I'm not sure there's not much else I want to do.

I've still got the front lower control arm bushes to fit. Bought 2 years ago but in no hurry to fit as car drives fine.

Got sump gasket to fit too, no hurry as car doesn't use any oil.

Got spot lights to fit, but may have to sell the car soon :eeksurprise:
 
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